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Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, a giant building existed. Invisible to anyone who might pass by, it stood tall. Inside, there wasn't a single living being. It was eerily silent, a bit dusty due to lack of use. In one room, with its doors locked and no windows, five circular glass chambers stood. They reached the ceiling from the floor and were large enough for a person to stand in, with a bit of extra room to move around, but not much. Other than that, there wasn't that much else in the room. Just some chairs and wires, and tubes hanging from the ceiling connecting to the chambers.The silence was deafening, until several loud claps of thunder resounded through the room, followed by twenty-one separate flashes of light that looked like lightening. Five of the flashes lit up inside the five glass chambers, and a second later five very confused people stood in the chambers. On the outside, sixteen other people stood disoriented at being deposited inside the strange room. When their eyes met the five people inside the chambers, there was some shocked gasps and cries of 'Doctor!' One woman, with a halo of blonde, curly hair, stepped forward with shock at the five people with their strange clothes and hands on the glass."Doctor...s?" She prompted, looking at them all. Four of them showed recognition and sadness at the woman, but one with big-ish ears didn't seem to know her."River," one of the men said. He had a big chin, floppy hair, and wore a tweed suit and bowtie."Doctor, what's going on?" She asked him, putting her hand on the glass where his was. "I'm not sure. It seems we've all been dragged from our respective timelines and brought here. Not sure why, yet," he quickly explained, his old, sad eyes roaming over the many faces watching the display."Hang on, what's going on?" Another woman asked. She looked younger than River, with straight blonde hair and full lips. River turned to the girl when neither of the people in the chambers answered."These are all the Doctor. Five different regenerations of them. You're all his friends, and someone has taken us all from our timelines to bring us to this exact place. It should be impossible seeing as some of you could never be here," she explained as simply as she could."How can all of those be the Doc?" A man asked. He was a lot older than most of the others and had grey hair. He pointed at one of the end chambers where a blonde woman stood wearing a long grey coat and short blue trousers. She was scrunching her nose at the ceiling of the chamber."I presume she hasn't told you yet. The Doctor is part of a species called the Time Lords. When they're dying, they regenerate. That means they can change their entire physical body. These people in the chambers are the Doctor," River explained."Remember when I told you I used to be a white-haired Scotsman?" The blonde woman, the Doctor, said to the man, looking away from the ceiling. She then pointed towards a grumpy looking man in the chamber next to hers."No way," a girl said with black hair put up in a bun, "you weren't kiddin'.""Nope.""Anyway, I think we should all get introduced before figuring out how to get the Doctor's free and getting out of here," River suggested with a friendly smile. The others agreed, and started telling everyone who they were and which Doctor they travelled with. Only one of them didn’t introduce themselves, instead opting to lean against the Scottish Doctor’s chamber. She had crazy brown hair, bright blue eyes, and wore Victorian-like clothes. She looked disgusted at the entire idea of socialising with the others.The Scottish Doctor, which the others had dubbed Twelve to make things easier, leaned against the chamber where she was. “You’re not going to introduce yourself?” He asked, speaking for the first time.“Why should I?” She asked back, her own Scottish accent audible.“If we’re going to get out of here, you’re going to need to know their names,” Twelve replied.“Not really. Anyway, I know some of their names. That there’s Comic Relief,” she pointed out a bald man stood next to a black girl.“Nardole,” Twelve corrected, rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache.“And that’s Thing One.”“Bill.”“And that’s The One Whose Boyfriend I Turned into a Cyberman.”“Her name is Clara,” Twelve sighed. “Missy, you can’t just give them nicknames.”“I can do what I want, Mr Grumpy,” Missy grinned and gave a mock wink.Suddenly, all the Doctor’s and Missy straightened up, looking around as if they could hear or sense something the others couldn’t. Their eyes trailed to the ceiling and for a second, there was absolute silence, until Thirteen broke it by uttering, “can you hear that?” The other Doctor’s nodded, as did Missy.The wires connected to the chambers rattled a bit and then there was a hissing noise. White smoke filtered into the chambers, causing the Doctor’s to choke in defiance to it entering their lungs. A couple of them fell to their knees whilst the others leaned against the glass walls surrounding them, barely keeping themselves up.“Doctor!” A redheaded woman, Amy Pond, exclaimed in shock. She ran forward and knelt in front of Eleven who was using the crook of his arm to shield his mouth and nose from the gas. “Someone do something,” she ordered of the others desperately.River rushed over to the wires connected to the chambers and started pulling on them, hoping to disconnect them. It didn’t work, no matter how hard she tried.Nardole sidled up to Missy, panic in her eyes. “Have you got your umbrella?” He asked, his voice squeaking.“Do I look like I’ve got my umbrella?” She snapped with annoyance, her eyes staying glued on the Doctor’s. He backed away quickly and re-joined Bill who looked horrified at the display before them.There was sudden silence, the room devoid of the sound of gas hissing. Not even the Doctor’s were making any noise now that the gas was gone, and they could breathe again. They stayed frozen in place, their eyes half-open and breathing heavily.Amy turned to River who was teary eyed at the sight of her husband/wife, “what do we do, River? You and him always have a plan, so what do we do?” She demanded, tears in her own eyes. Rory stepped forward and put a hand on her upper arm in comfort.“I don’t know,” she answered honestly, voice heavy with emotions that neither Rory nor Amy could understand.Thirteen slumped forwards, falling to the floor in a heap with her eyes closed. Nine followed suit, joining her in the land of unconsciousness, as did Ten, then Eleven. The only one who remained conscious, was Twelve. He fought off the overwhelming sense of tiredness, knowing nothing good could come out of it.Clara rushed forward, standing in front of his chamber, her eyes big and sad. “Don’t fight it, Doctor,” she told him. “I know you want to, I know nothing good can come from this, but you have to let it take you. Your other selves are okay, see? You’ll be fine. You’ve got us.”Twelve nodded his head slowly, then allowed himself to fall to the floor and close his eyes.
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River was pacing back and forth, trying to come up with some plan on how to get out of there. With the Doctor's unconscious, the duty of escape was left to her. And maybe Missy, but she wasn't exactly the most sane, so she couldn't be trusted. And even then, she'd spent the better part of the two hours they'd been there insulting everyone. The others were trying their hardest, but they couldn't find a way to get out either. She'd left Nardole and Bill to watch over the Doctor's and inform her if anything happened or they woke up.It was as she was pacing back and forth, she noticed something on the floor. It was small, almost completely concealed, but she had spotted it. Creeping closer, she was able to get a better look at it. It looked almost like a valve. Metal and a bit rusty. She couldn't see where it led to, but it had been hidden quite well in the corner, so it had to be useful, River deduced."What's that?" Donna asked, coming up to her. River quickly gave her a once over. Whoever had brought them here had not only brought Rose back from Pete's world, but they'd also restored Donna's memories without her brain burning up. For some reason, Donna's granddad, Wilf, was there, too. River assumed it was because the Doctor trusted him, and they were friends. They'd been through a lot, even if they hadn't travelled together."It's a valve. I'm not sure where it leads or what it does," River told her."Best not use it then, eh?" Donna guessed."Yeah," River sighed. The whole situation was making her head hurt. It was obvious someone wanted the Doctor's, but the reason why was lost on her. And why they'd all been dragged into it was a mystery in itself.Someone called her name and she and Donna stood up from the valve. Turning around, she noticed Nardole calling her over. Stepping away from Donna and over to her old friend, she looked at the Doctor he was stood next to. Bill was crouched next to Twelve. "What is it, Nardole?" She questioned."I think Ten is waking up," Nardole told her, gesturing to the floppy haired man with sandshoes. River looked at him and noticed his breathing was picking up and he seemed to be moving. He grunted then slowly blinked open his eyes, looking around. When he noticed he was still in the chamber, he grunted again and made an effort of getting up. River wanted to help him, he looked like he was in pain, but with the chambers keeping them apart, she couldn't do anything but watch.When he was up, he leaned his back heavily on the chamber for support, but somehow made it look casual. "Still in here, then?" He said with an eyeroll."I'm afraid so. But we're working on it," River reassured him. Ten nodded his head, but it seemed like he wanted to say something more."How long have we been out?" He then asked, gesturing to the other Doctor's."Couple hours, I think. It's hard to tell when there's no windows," River said."Blimey!" A voice shouted from her right. River looked over quickly to see Thirteen stumbling up into a standing position. Thirteen's current travelling companions rushed over to her, asking if she was okay ('of course I am, I'm the King of Okay- Queen'), and what had happened ('not sure, but it wasn't nice'), etc. River resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her childlike personality this go around.Slowly, one by one, the remaining Doctor's groaned and started to wake up. First was Nine, who Rose and Jack ran over to, then Eleven who had Amy and Rory by his side, then Twelve who had Bill and Clara. Each Doctor looked confused by what had happened and what the gas was, but they made a point of not wanting to talk about it until they'd had time to go over it in their heads. Reluctantly the companions left the Doctor's be and tried to ignore the hushed conversations the Doctor's were having amongst themselves.River had called Missy and Nardole over to the valve in hopes that the two might be able to help her figure out what it was. Missy had immediately suggested turning it, but was written off by both Nardole and River. They didn't know what it did and they couldn't risk hurting the Doctor's."So what do you suggest we do, half-breed?" Missy hissed angrily, the insult come out like it was second nature. Nardole squeaked in fear, looking between the two."What did you just call me?" River asked, an expression of stone cold anger on her face."You heard me. You're an insult to all Time Lords out there. Your parents aren't even Gallifreyan," Missy said, a disgusted grimace on her face."I think you should stop now, Miss," Nardole suggested, carefully watching River in the meantime."Yet the Doctor married me anyway," River said with a mocking smile. Missy's smug expression changed from disgust to one of anger and slight jealousy."Only because you tore all of reality apart," Missy stated without hesitation."So he didn't tell you about the other weddings, then?" River casually asked, pretending to examine her nails. "Or the twenty four years on Darillium we spent being domestic?""Ladies..." Nardole tried when Missy took a step forward. River glanced away from her nails to look Missy in the eye."He really must have pitied you. He knew you were going to die the entire time you were gallivanting around the universe, so he tried to make it up to you by marrying you and playing happy familes," Missy hissed."Even if that were true, he had you locked in a vault for seventy years and not once did he show you the slightest bit of interest. Not in the way you wanted anyway," River grinned, "he could never live up to your sick fantasies."The room was oddly silent and Missy and River glanced away from each other for a moment to take in all the pairs of eyes staring at them in confusion and shock. Nardole looked like he might wet himself any second. And who wouldn't when the woman who killed the Doctor and the woman who destroys entire planets because she's bored are arguing. Casting a quick look at Missy who was grinning like a Cheshire Cat, River walked away and leaned against the wall near the Doctor's chambers. Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen looked at her, but she refused to meet their eyes, instead focusing on the floor. Getting into petty arguments like that wasn't like her, and she wondered what had come over her. Maybe the whole 'being trapped' situation was getting to her. After all, she had spent most of her life trapped. If she wasn't trapped inside a spacesuit, or under Kovarian's care, then she was trapped in Stormcage for twelve-thousand consecutive life sentences. From the corner of her eye, River saw Missy move to sit on a chair in the corner of the room. Behind all the layers of smugness, she looked just about as confused as River."What was that?" Eleven asked her, turning around in his chamber so he could see her."I don't know," River admitted, "she called me a 'half-breed', I guess I just lost my temper.""You shouldn't listen to a thing she says. You know what she's like," Eleven reassured her with a frown."I do, but it's not like me to retaliate," River huffed, running a hand through her curly hair."What was that?" Nine spoke up, looking at the ceiling. River and Eleven stopped their conversation and turned to him at the end of the row of chambers, as did everyone else."What was what?" Jack asked, stepping up to his chamber, followed by Rose."That noise. Did none of you hear it? Seriously?" He asked, noting all of their confused expressions. Some shook their head, others looked at each other in confusion. "How could you have not heard that?" By now, his other selves were also looking at him with worry and beffudlement. They obviously hadn't heard it either, not even with their superior hearing."I may not have heard whatever you did, but what is that?" Ten murmured, crouching down and looking at a blank spot on the floor. To them, there was nothing there, but he was obviously seeing something they couldn't."There's nothing there, Doctor," Martha said gently, crouching down in front of him. Ten looked away, but only because she had crouched down in front of whatever it was."Yes, there is, you're crouched in front of it," Ten said with determination.River walked around the chambers, watching all of the Doctor's carefully, taking in each of their expressions, where they were looking, any odd movements, etc. By the time she had reached Nine and gone back to Thirteen, she had pretty much figured it out. The way Thirteen was looking over her hands and feeling her face as if there was something there that she could see or feel, the way Twelve was looking around the room, following something with his eye, the way Eleven was looking up at the ceiling of his chamber with wide-eyed fear."They're hallucinating," River stated, stopping in front of Twelve's chamber. "Whatever that gas was, it's making them hallucinate."Just then, a desperate sob ripped through the air and all eyes landed on Thirteen who was crouched down at the bottom of her chamber, head on her knees and arms wrapped around them. Even the Doctor's didn't seem to know what to do.
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"What do we do?" Rose demanded, crouching in front of Nine. She didn't know what he was hallucinating- he wasn't giving any clues in his behaviour- but she knew it must have been horrific given his deer-in-headlights look. He was shaking like a leaf, curled up on the bottom of his chamber, looking around at things neither she or the others could see."We need to get them out," Wilf said, watching Ten. He had only personally known Ten, none of their other faces. If there was one thing he knew, though, whatever the Doctor had done in the past- it had been and gone. The Doctor was the best man, or woman, he had ever known. Even when given a gun and the chance to end all of his problems, he simply chose to use the gun in non-harmful way- even when the cause of his problems was at the end of the barrel."But how do we do that? We don't exactly have a wide variety of equipment at our fingerips," Jack said. River and Missy had forgotten their agument and were determinedly pacing back and forth in front of them all. He could tell they were both going through the problem at hand and thinking of a variety of solutions as they went. Occasionally their eyes would flitter over to a valve on the floor in the corner, but they quickly went back to pacing. "Shh!" Missy hissed in annoyance, holding up a finger and continuing to pace. Jack rolled his eyes, but did as she said. She stopped in front of one of the chambers, the one holding Twelve, and tapped it. She turned to River seriously, "do we know what this is made out of? I know whoever has done this isn't stupid enough to simply make it out of glass," she said."I'm not sure. I hadn't thought about it until now. Do you think we can just... smash it?" River asked, coming to a stop next to Missy. "I doubt it, but it's worth a try, I guess. If it doesn't break straight away, we don't continue it. We can't risk them going into more of a frenzy than they are now," Missy decided with a nod. "What shall we use?" River asked, looking around. "We could use one of the chairs?" She then suggested."It's the best we've got," Missy agreed. Hearing the conversation, Ryan, who was stood near a chair, immediately grabbed it and passed it to Missy in his eagerness to help the Doctor's. She gave a brief smile that didn't look completelt genuine, and Ryan nodded slightly in response."Which one?" Missy asked River, eyeing each of the Doctor's. It was obvious they were all in their own personal hell, but the decision on which Doctor's chamber to abuse with the chair was hard. Their reaction to the loud noise and the closeness of it would definitely be bad, but who would react least? River looked at all of the Doctor's and finally decided on Eleven. Whilst he looked about as bad as the other Doctor's, she reckoned he might not react so wildly as the others. "I think Eleven," River said quietly, the plan starting to make her have second thoughts. Missy hadn't even gone through with it yet; but she could just imagine the Doctor's reaction. Before she could tell Missy not to do it, the mad woman had already grinned and swung the chair back. She brought it forward with surprising strength for her slender, feminine form. A loud bang reverberated throughout the room, echoing for a small second before fading to give way to the frightened yelps and shouts from each of the Doctor's- especially Eleven.The Eleventh Doctor threw himself back against one side of the circular chamber, scrambling away from where Missy had hit it. His wild eyes looked straight at Missy, but it was almost like he couldn't see hee at all. The fact that Missy suddenly continued aggressively hitting the chamber didn't make things better. She grunted with each swing at the glass-like chamber, but it didn't budge. The only thing it succeeded in doing was scaring the Doctor's. Their faces were as pale as a sheet, and she was sure Ten was on the verge of passing out if she continued."Missy! Miss! Missy, stop!" Nardole ordered, everyone else too shocked to do anything. Even River was unsure of what she should do. In a spur of bravery, Nardole rushed forward and grabbed her arms, barely missing getting hit in the head with the metal chair. With her almost restrained, Jack rushed forward to help. Together, the pair started pulling her back away from the chambers. She didn't resist much, only the odd insult and pull here and there. The chair clattered to the ground when Yaz took it from her hands and put it back in its place. "What the hell is wrong with you?" River snapped at the mad woman, "do you want to scare them into their next regeneration?""They've never had much finnesse. It might be an improvement on their previous regenerations," Missy grinned, pulling away from Jack and Nardole. "Anyway, I was getting somewhere. Look, I dented it," she said, stalking forward and pointing at Eleven's chamber.Sure enough, in the spot Missy had been beating with the chair, was a fist sized dent. It wasn't much, but it was something. Of course, they couldn't really continue using the chair to smash the chamber anyway- not unless they wanted to frighten the Docror's to death."I know what you're thinking. And you're right," Missy said with a sigh, eyeing the dent. "Lucky for us, though, I've figured out what it's made of," she continued and pressed her fingers to the dent. "What is it?" River asked curiously."I'm not sure exactly what it's called, but is glass. Only it's palladium-based," Missy said, "metallic glass," she finished. "Can it be broken?" "Of course. Everything can be broken." "So, how do we do it?""It'd take too long to break it with brute force, we don't have that much time. It's stronger than steel. We need to figure out how to get the Doctor's out without going through the glass," Miss stated, starting up her pacing again. A finger flew to her lips, deep in thought.It didn't take long before she stopped in her tracks and turned to the closest chamber to her (Thirteen's) and looked at the ceiling of it. There was a small vent above it where the hallucinogenic gas had been filtered through."These vents," Missy said, drawing everyone's attention, "they must lead somewhere. Maybe we can find a way to get the Doctor's out through them. Of course, we'll have to find a way inside first, meaning we need to escape.""Back to the escape plan then," Nardole said with a sigh."This was always an escape plan to begin with, egg man," Missy snapped, still annoyed at the man-handling, "whether it's us escaping or the Doctor's.""Sorry," Nardole muttered. "The door- it's locked, yes?" Missy said, moving her attention to the grey, metal door that Clara had tried opening earlier. "Yeah," Clara confirmed, "do you think you can get it open?" "Of course," Missy said confidently. If there was anything she was good at, it was escaping. Even if it meant opening a door with nothing but the limited items in the room she was currently in. Missy scanned the room with her eyes, taking in all of the items at her disposal. Honestly, it felt like whoever was behind all of this was trying to make it easy for her. They obviously had no idea who she was. With a smile slowly starting to form, Missy grabbed a bunch of items, dragged them to a corner and sat down with demands that she not be disturbed for the next two to three hours.
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He was back on Darillium. He thought he'd already been there, but apparently not. Maybe it had all been a dream. Then again, maybe not.
A voice was calling him. It sounded like they were underwater, but he could just make out what they were saying... "sweetie."
There was the sound of a laser weapon firing off. Then the familiar ringing that came with regeneration. Then more lasers. Then screams.
He had to be careful of the shadows. They were alive. In a way. Even slightly touching them would kill you. But how could he avoid the shadows if they were surrounding him?
What was that noise? Someone yelling his name? Doctor, Doctor, Doctor! They were male, but like before, it all sounded... muffled. No matter how loud they shouted, it always sounded quiet.
He could hear breathing. Loud. Deafening. Then a horrible drumming noise that he knew wasn't his own. The sound came from a friend long lost. But they weren't lost. Were they?
She had no idea what was going on. One minute she'd been listening to a distant hissing noise coming from the vent in her chamber, then she'd passed out, and when she'd woken up again, she'd found it hard to concentrate on what her friends were saying.
A noise. Coming from her left. She could hear her friends, too, but the noise... the noise was so much louder. And closer. And screeching. What was that noise?!
There was scuttling. In her chamber. Something was in her chamber with her. On the floor- no, the walls. The ceiling? No matter, it was closing in on her, she needed to get away. Exactly five minutes to escape. She could do it.
Something was touching her. The previous threat long forgotten. She snatched her hand away, eyes looking wildly around. What had touched her? Something with cold fingers. Cold, cold, cold.
It was repetetive. That same, constant threat being screeched from all around him. It had haunted his dreams for millenia, and now it was a reality. Or was it? Yes, yes, it was real. It felt real so it must be. Really real. One-hundred percent real. He thinks.
The screeching, it was getting closer. He could hear it. Gaining upon him. Surrounding him. There was no escape. Not this time. He was well and truly trapped. In a way, it was fitting that those monsters were how the famous Time Lord would die.
By their... hand? With that infamous victory yell of "exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!" Yes. That's how he would die. One day. But not today. Not if he can help it.
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"You really believe she'll be able to get them out of there?" A male voice inquired incredulously as he and several others peered at a large screen. "Of course I do. She's us, we're her," one of the other males replied. He folded one arm across his chest and rested his elbow on it as he put a finger to his chin. "You're right. But there's something off about us," another spoke, leaning on the table the screen was above. He watched as on the screen, the object of their desires fiddled with wires and metal. "And what would that be?" The first male demanded. "She hasn't tried to kill anyone yet. Is she really us?""Well, there was that argument with that other woman..." "Perhaps she's playing the long game?" Suggested one of the men. "It certainly wouldn't be the first time we've done it." "You're right.""I know I am. We always are," the man replied, a light smirk gracing his features. He turned away from the machine to glance behind them all where, in a row, five police boxes stood, wheezing painfully. One of the police boxes had larger windows than the others and looked a lot... bluer. "You really think this will hold up?" Questioned the man, turning to one of the other men with a round face. "I know it will. I've done it before," he said, but didn't elaborate further. The previous man looked a little doubtful, but decided to put full trust in the other man and nodded slowly, casting a final glance at the police boxes.
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Missy was still working on getting them out of there whilst the others slept. They were only human, after all, and spent half of their lifetime sleeping. Missy, being a Time Lady, barely needed sleep. She still had at least another month before she had to do so. Unfortunately for the Doctor's, they were also Time Lords which meant they also rarely slept and were still being subjected to whatever horrors they could see. A large part of Missy just wanted to get out of the stupid room she was in and back to her time line, but another, much smaller part of her wanted to make sure the Doctor's were okay and comfort them. If they'd allow it.Every now and then, one of the Doctors would mutter or whisper something. So softly that Missy could barely hear it, but one thing was clear- they were terrified. Missy may have been friends with the Doctor for millenia, but she had never seen or heard them so scared before in all her faces. Despite the hearts breaking pleads for it to stop from the five Doctor's, Missy kept her head down and focused on what she was doing. There would be a lot of disapproval from the Doctors' pe- friends, but there wasn't much she could do. It was either build a weapon capable of breaking them out of there, or remain confined to the same room for only Rassilon knows how long. She knows which option she would choose. It was as she was connecting some of the last wires, she heard of of the Doctor's (Thirteen) say something. The muttered word was a lot clearer than anything else she or the others had said in the past hour or so, so Missy lifted her head up and turned to look at the blonde curled up on the floor. Her eyes were half lidded and her mouth was hanging open, but Missy knew she was looking at her. For a moment, Missy considered continuing with her work and leaving the female Doctor to whatever gas-induced hallucination she was having, but she froze and her hearts fluttered when the Doctor lifted a hand with what looked like extreme effort, and placed it on the glass chamber. A strong urge told her to stay where she was, to continue building the weapon, but she determinedly pushed it down and stood up. Pulling her skirts up and stepping over the mess she'd made, Missy made her way over to the Thirteenth Doctor's prison and knelt down in front of it. "Missy?" The female Doctor breathed woth exhaustion. "Are you real?" She asked. "Yes, Doctor. It's really me, Missy," Missy answered with a small smile. She placed her hand on the chamber opposite the Doctor's own hand. "What's going on? Is this your doing?" The Doctor demanded, trying and failing to sound strong. Hurt welled up in Missy at the accusation that everything happening was her fault, and it took everything in her not to snap at the Doctor and bring the chair back for another round of baseball with the chamber. "No. It's not my fault, Doctor," Missy said instead. "How much do you remember, Doctor?" She asked after a while of laboured breathing from Thirteen."Not much," she admitted slowly, frowning at Missy. "Where's your hat? The one with the fruit?" The Doctor suddenly asked, cutting Missy off. "I'm hungry," she then said, "have you got any custard creams? I want some." "No, I haven't got any custard creams, Doctor,""Shame. I really want some," the Doctor moaned, looking distantly at the vent above her. "There's no stars, Missy," she said, trying to lift a hand to point above her. She gave up after a couple seconds when she couldn't find the energy to lift it. "We were going to see the stars, weren't we? Theta and Koschei, in a TARDIS, seeing the stars," she grinned. Missy nodded even though the Doctor couldn't see her. "It would take forever to see all the stars in the universe, but I didn't care. As long as I was with you, that didn't matter to me."Missy was unsure of what to say, so she just looked down, fiddling with her skirts to pass the time. Out of nowhere, the Doctor started crying and suddenly found the energy to cover her face with her arm. Unused to this display of emotions, Missy spluttered uselessly, looking around and hoping one of the others would wake up and comfort the Doctor. There was no luck. All she got was a snore from Jack."I'm scared, Kos," the Doctor admitted quietly, "I really don't know what to do. The Daleks are coming and we're trapped. We're going to die. We won't even regenerate.""Theta," Missy started carefully, "how old are you?" She whispered. "What a silly question at a time like this, Koschei," the Doctor responded, sounded more and more panicked."Just tell me," Missy demanded with tears in her eyes. She didn't know why she was crying, but she was. "I'm six hundred. And I'm going to die," the Doctor cried, hiccuping. For a moment Missy almost forgot to breathe, but she came back to reality with a big, gasping breath and a hand flying to her chest. "I'm sorry, Theta. I really am. I'm so sorry," she apologised and put her head in her hands. "Why are you sorry? Koschei? Koschei?! Please, Kos!" Thirteen whined in hysterics. Missy ignored her and focused on controlling her own breathing.Missy quickly stood up, still breathing heavily, and stomped over to her almost-finished device, barely ignoring Thirteen's desperate cries. She snatched the device up, placed it on her lap, and set about connecting the last wires and outer casing. It was fiddly with her shaking hands, but she managed to connect it and used a small bit of broken off metal to tighten the screws she'd stolen from the chairs.Pointing the finished device at one of the unoccupied chairs, she stalled her breath and pressed the trigger. It was with great relief, a bolt of red laser shot from the end of the weapon and disintergrated the chair. A sly grin spread across her face when she watched a couple of the humans jerk in surprise and fall off the chairs."What the hell?!" Jack exclaimed, staring at her in surprise. "Is that a disintegrator?" He asked in disbelief."Yep," she nodded, popping the 'p', "and our way out," she informed, pointing the weapon at the door.
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For a moment, nothing happened. The disintegration ray had definitely fired at the door, but it stood still, undeterred by anything. Missy was ready to start kicking the door down in anger, and she surely would have, if she hadn't felt the small vibrations. The vibrating would have been unnoticable to the humans in the room, but as she wasn't human and could feel and sense things they couldn't, she clearly felt it. It was minute, barely noticeable to even her, but it was definitely there. She eyed the door, the few humans that were awake watching with her in anticipation.All of a sudden, with a reaction too late, the door exploded into dust, leaving a gaping hole where it had once stood proudly. Missy had never been so happy to see an open doorway in her entire life. The humans waking up their friends in relief barely phased her as she stepped cautiously towards the doorway, feeling that everything had been almost too easy. As the Doctor's friends started waking up, she stepped up to the large doorway leading to a hallway and tentatively passed a hand through it. Nothing happened and she gained the confidence to step through it fully, the disintegrator still tightly gripped in her hand. She could sense the humans stood behind her anxiously as she tapped her foot experimentally on the ground, then waved her arms a bit to be sure there was nothing stopping her from exiting the room."It's safe," she called to the Doctor's friends. A few sighs of relief left them and she could, for the first time, say she related to them. "We need to find out where the vents are connected to. Then we can try and get the Doctor's out through there," she continued, and turned to see some of the companions lingering in the hallway with her. She was unused to being in charge of anyone without hypnotising them, but she guessed she liked it. Maybe that was why the Doctor always took people with them."Right then," she said, suddenly feeling paticularly awkward with everyone looking at her and waiting for her orders. In the background, she could see Nardole looking at her with a shit-eating grin. She'd have to remember to disassemble him later on. "There's a door down there. Let's go." With that said, she led the way down the hallway to the only door in sight. She amused herself, as she opened the door, with the thought that the way everyone was following her reminded her of lost Earth puppies. Waiting for orders or to be fed at exactly six-am every morning. Through the door was another corridor. This one was a lot bigger and had several more doors, all looking identical except for the signs on them. A few of them only had numbers on them that didn't mean much to anyone. Others had words such as 'Paradox' and 'Hallucinogens', and 'Control room'. It took only a few seconds for Missy to understand what the purpose of them was. The 'Paradox' room was clearly there for the purpose of sustaining the paradox of them all being there at the same time, whilst the 'Hallucinogens' room must be the room dishing out the hallucinogenic gas to the Doctor's. The 'Control room' was pretty self explanatory that even the humans behind her could understand it, Missy mused. Striding up to the 'Hallucinogens' room, Missy opened the door and brandished her disintegrator. She stepped inside, aiming her weapon around just in case. When there was no sign of anyone, Missy lowered it. In the center of the dimly lit room was a large tank containing a gas not unlike the one the Doctor's had been subjected to. On top of the tank, five seperate tubes protruded from it, ran across the room, up the walls, and into metal gratings. "Nardole, do you think you could find a way to turn this off? Stop the gas getting to the Doctor's?" Missy asked, turning to the bald man eyeing the tank. "Why me?" He squeaked, looking up. "Because I asked you to. And I believed you're the only one here that's capable," Missy said, none-to-subtly looking at the others with distaste. Nardole huffed loudly, "I guess I could," he agreed and started examining the container, the wires, and the tubes. "Once he's finished, I need one person to go through the vents and bring back their assigned Doctor. Think you can handle that?" Missy grinned. There were some nods whilst the others looked at the vents on the walls and reluctantly agreed. "Good," Missy said and turned back to the door. "Wait," someone said, stepping in front of her. Missy rolled her eyes."What?" She demanded of the short haired brunette in front of her. "What are you gonna do while we're doing all of this?" Clara asked suspiciously."Does it matter?" Missy retorted with a raised eyebrow. She'd never liked Clara. She was only made sort of tolerable when her boyfriend had been turned into a Cyberman. Well, even then... "Yes. Where are you going?" Clara questioned.Missy sighed dramatically and pointed at the door behind Clara on the opposite side of the corridor. "I'm going to the control room. Is that okay with you, your Highness?" Missy snarked with a glare at Clara. "Oh. Right, yeah. Sorry. But why are you going to the control room? What's there?""I don't know yet. That's why I'm going." "Oh. Okay. Do you, uh, do you want some help?" Clara awkwardly asked."No, thank you," Missy denied, looking disgusted at the concept of accepting help from her. "Okay, well, go ahead then," Clara said and stepped out of the doorway to let Missy passed. With a raised eyebrow, Missy stepped out into the corridor and quickly crossed it until she was stood in front of the door that read 'Control room'. With a look back at the room she'd come from where she could see the Doctor's companions discussing who would go and collect their Doctor, Missy reached for the handle and opened the door to the control room. The room was dark, only lit up by the glow of a large TV on the wall. On the screen was what looked to be live footage of the room she and the others had just come from. She could see the Doctor's were still where she had left them, writhing in emotional agony at the hallucinations. The only other light being emitted was from five blue police boxes with lights on top and white windows.Missy's hearts leapt up into her throat at the sight of the police boxes, and then they just about broke at the noises the TARDISes were making. They were in pain. Either in sympathy for their Doctor's or for whatever had been done to them.Suddenly, the room was properly illuminated when someone turned on the ceiling light via a switch on the wall. Missy squinted her eyes for a second and when she'd adjusted to the sudden brightness, she turned around to the door she'd come through, only to find it being blocked by someone. Several someones...If her day had been weird to begin with, what she was seeing currently certainly topped he cake. "Hello, Missy. We're the Master, and we're very worried about our future," a man wearing black with a goatee said, his voice posh and stiff.
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It was as Nardole was working on stopping the gas from being administered to the Doctor's, he noticed a lack of insults being thrown his way. He looked up and scanned the room with his eyes, a frown heavy on his face and a feeling of unusual dread welling in the pit of his... well, not stomach.He was right to be worried, he realised as he stood up straight and took a step away from the tank. There was someone missing. One of the worst people that could have disappeared at a time like that."Where's Missy?" He demanded of everyone, scanning the room once more and hoping his eyes were deceiving him."Uh, she went to the control room," Clara answered him. "Do you want me to go and get her?" "Why did you let her leave? She can't be trusted," Nardole said in his most 'I babysit Time Lord's for a living' voice. "She only left a few minutes ago," Clara retorted, "she's in there," she continued, pointing at a closed door across the hallway."You lot stay here, I'm going to get her," Nardole stated and squeezed passed some of the Doctor's companions to leave the room. With determined expression set on his face, Nardole crossed the hallway and walked up to the control room. He raised a fist and rapped heavily on the door with a, "miss? Are you in there?" It warranted no response so he sighed and clasped the handle, pushing it down to open the door. He had barely pushed it open an inch when it was forcefully pulled open, making his hand slip off the handle.The sight in the doorway could only conjure up a terrified stammer from Nardole as he shuffled backwards a bit. "M-Missy, what is this?" Nardole stuttered, pointing between her and the Master's behind her. "This?" She asked nonchalantly, waving a hand as if they were merely chatting over tea. "This, egg man, is a revolution," she grinned widely. "Revolution?" Nardole repeated in fear. "Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration," she admitted. Suddenly, Missy's hand-made disintegrator was pointed at his face, right between the eyes. Nardole couldn't help staring at it, making him look funny. One of the Master's, with a greying goatee that Nardole recognised at the first Master, stepped around Missy until his was stood beside Nardole who didn't take his eye off the weapon still aimed at him. "I am the Master, and you will obey me. Now, take me to the Doctor's," he ordered. Nardole, as much as his mind told him not to, readily nodded his head and gestured shakily down the hallway in the direction of the Doctor's."Gather the humans," the Master demanded of a couple other Master's. "And you," he said to Missy who eyed him warily, "with us. We still don't trust you yet." Missy nodded silently and eyed the hallway, ordering Nardole to get moving.Nardole started down the hallway, listening to the protest coming from the hallucinogenic room. He only prayed that either Missy was on their side still, or he could find a way to free the Doctor's without anyone getting harmed in the process.When Nardole and the select few Master's who hadn't gone to collect the Doctor's friends made it to the room, Nardole was made to sit on one of the chairs, Missy still aiming the disintegrator at him. The goatee Master repetetively paced the length of the room, a gloved hand thoughtfully stroking his beard. Who knows what evil plan the Master's had thought up for the Doctor's. Whatever it was, it wasn't going be pleasant, Nardole knew that much.Speaking of the Doctor's, they were still very much in their own personalised Hell's. Two of them, Nine and Eleven, had thankfully dozed off. Nardole only hoped that their dreams would be merciful. One of the Master's, the one with black hair and also sporting a goatee (honestly, what is it with the Master and goatee's?), stepped forward and crouched in front of Thirteen's chamber, then rapped loudly on it. She hissed in a terrified breath and looked around wildly, her long coat getting caught around her torso as she moved. "Is the future going to be all girl?" He asked, briefly looking at Missy who raised an eyebrow and subtly reminded him she still held a weapon. Goatee Master Two held his hands up in surrender and went back to tapping on the female Doctor's chamber if only to torment her more. It brought a grim smile to his face and an ache in Nardole's... not-heart? "I don't know why we didn't do this before," round faced Master spoke up from his position by Ten's chamber. "You know, the whole 'hallucination' thing. Maybe we didn't need to kill the Doctor, just... contain them." "The irony," Nardole muttered to himself, earning a glare from Missy as her hand tightened around the disintegrator. "What was that, egg man?" Asked the Round Faced Master. "Nothing, nothing," Nardole reassured him hastily. "We've never done this before because we want the Doctor dead. Not contained," Goatee Master One said, a hint of disdain at the idea of containing the Doctor. "I suppose you're right," agreed Round Faced Master, "and God, what an annoying thing they are. Who knows what they'd be like locked up.""Get your hands off me!" Exclaimed a slowly approaching voice. A couple of the Master's rolled their eyes at the noise coming from outside the room.As expected with the noise, the door opened further, enough for the Doctor's companions and the final two Master's to enter the room and join them. Most of the companions wore a look of annoyance or fear, whilst Jack and one of the Master's (the one who wasn't... burnt) sported red marks on their cheeks and ragged appearances. It seemed a small fight had broken out between them. "Can someone get that... thing away from me?" Amy snapped, yanking her arm out of the burnt Master's grip with a glare in bis direction."Uh, excuse me!" Retorted Missy, "that 'thing' is me, and you will show me some respect," she said, though even she couldn't look at the burnt Master. "Enough of the dawdling!" Said the Goatee Master One, "let's get to it. I say we kill Thirteen first, and figure out what to do with the rest as we go along.""Sounds good to me, dear," Missy agreed, finally pulling her disintegrator from Nardole's face, much to his relief. "Wait! You can't do this!" Yaz shouted, stepping forward. "Yeah, I thought you were his best friend!" Clara joined in and pointed an accusing finger at Missy."We are," Missy was quick to defend with a 'what's your point?' look."Then how can you do this?" Wilf spoke up, having been quietly contemplating the entire situation for most of the time they'd been there. "I remember you," he continued, directing a look at Round Faced Master, "the Doctor had a chance to kill you after everything you'd done to him. Even had a gun pointed at your face," at this, Missy looked down briefly, but quickly looked back up defiantly. "But he didn't. He let you live. How can you do this to them?" Wilf finished sadly. Round Faced Master looked cold and calculating. He ran an eye down Wilf, taking him in and considering his answer. Eventually, a cocky smile made its way onto his face and he spoke, "because it's fun." "Now," he clapped and turned to his fellow Master's, "let the fun begin!"
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"You can't do this!" The Doctor's companions protested, talking over each other. For Masters' own safety, the Doctor's companions had each been handcuffed behind their back and lined up against the wall with Missy and burnt Master to guard them.Goatee Master One had sent Goatee Master two to turn off the hallucinogenic, and once that had been done, burnt Master, using a remote control, took down the first chamber. The blue tinted glass chamber disappeared into thin air, leaving the Thirteenth Doctor crumbled on the floor with a lot more room to move about. With the chamber now gone and the gas no longer being administered, the Thirteenth Doctor warily blinked open her eyes and looked around. She took in big lungfuls of oxygen via a mask connected to a tank that Round Faced Master had pressed to her face. When she had gathered her bearings, she pushed away from the Master and scrambled up into a standing position. With complete and utter confusion and fear written on her face, she took in the forms of the Master's. Having some of her own regenerations in the room with her was enough, but having some it the Master's? It was a disaster waiting to happen."Master's?" The Thirteenth Doctor ventured, masking her fear and replacing it with indifference."Doctor," Goatee Master One greeted, standing even more menacingly (if that was even possible).The Doctor turned her attention to her friends stood against the wall and guarded by Missy and another Master. Her eyes caught Missy's and disappointment was briefly visible on her face, but she schooled her features and turned back to Goatee Master One."What is this? What're you doing?" She demanded seriously. Her eyes were still red-rimmed from the amount of crying she'd been doing in the chamber, but that didn't make her look any less determined. "My dear female Doctor," Goatee Master One replied with a slight smile that gave away his amusement. "Isn't it obvious?""Not really, no," Thirteen spat out before he could finish his explanation."Why, we're here to finally kill you," Goatee Master Two input and stepped up to stand beside his previous incarnation."You've been trying for centuries. What makes you think you'll succeed this time?""Well, we've got your... pets," Goatee Master Two pointed out. At this, Missy grabbed the collar of Graham's coat and brought him forward with her disintegratir aimed at his head. "And if you want them safe, you'd do well to do as we say.""Don't worry 'bout me, Doc," Graham spoke, his eyes sad and understanding. The Doctor almost couldn't bear to look at him."Okay," the Doctor said, looking directly at the Master, "I'll do as you say. Anything. Just don't hurt them. Please," she whispered, watching as each of the Masters' faces lit up with identicle smiles."Well, that almost makes me want to hurt them anyway," Goatee Master One said, contemplating it. Thirteen's face fell, hope for her friends dwindling."Can we?" Missy asked, like a child in a sweet shop."Maybe later, dear," Goatee Master One replied with a mere glance in her direction. Missy eyed Graham with something akin to hunger. "Now, it's just a matter of how the Doctor wil die. Do we know how many regenerations she has left?""No. I think this is her fourteenth, though?" Missy trailed off. "Fourteenth?" Goatee Master One repeated in astonishment. Missy shrugged. "Guess we can't throw her off a roof then. We'd be up and down for only Rassilon knows how long.""We could shoot her. But then again... that's a bit vanila.""I'm getting a strange sense of déja vu," the Doctor muttered."You're not the only one," Round Faced Master agreed, rubbing his temple."Any requests?" Goatee Master Two asked the Doctor, pacing the floor."You could let me go?" Thirteen suggested hopefully. The Master chortled with amusement. In the meantime, whilst the Doctor and Master's were discussing, River quietly moved her wrists and angled them towards Captain Jack. He used the bobby pin she'd passed him before they were cuffed to manouvre the lock. It took a minute or so before he was able to unlock it without using his sight. With one wrist free, River took back the bobby pin and expertly freed her other wrist. Then, she got to work on Jack's handcuffs without drawing too much attention.Missy stalked forward, dragging Graham with her. The Doctor kept a watchful eye on her and the disintegrator. Eventually Missy came to a halt in front of Ten's chamber. He was slouched down on the floor, beads of sweat gathering on his brows, and recovering from the hallucinations. "What do we do about the other Doctor's? We can't kill them obviously," she said thoughtfully, lightly kicking the chamber with her foot earning a glare frown Ten."We seperate them and break them. Then we send them back to their timelines with tge knowledge that they're to keep coming back her until they die," Round Face answered. Missy grinned at the answer. "It's genius," she praised, "we're genius." "Did you ever doubt?" Round Faced Master questioned, shoving Graham away and taking Missy in his arms to start a waltz around the room, much to the annoyance of the other Master's."Of course not, dearest," Missy answered."If you two are quite finished," snapped Goatee Master Two, drawing the attention of Missy and Round Face along with simultaneous sighs from them. They stepped apart and Missy resumed holding Graham at gun point. "Now," he continued, "take the male Doctor's to their rooms. There is work to be done."
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Graham watched hopelessly as two of the Master's (the burnt one and the young-ish looking one with a goatee) led the Doctor's previous companions out of the room whilst he, Yaz, and Ryan were left in there. He supposed it was because they travelled with the female Doctor and that's who the Master's were currently focused on. He wasn't sure why they hated the Doctor so much nor what they were going to do to her, but he knew it couldn't be good. If only he could have a massive brainstorm like the Doc usually did, he and the other two could save the Doctor's. The other Doctor's had been cuffed with what looked like some alien-like handcuffs that would zap them should they move too much. And with blindfolds over both their mouths and eyes, they'd been led from the room to God-knows-where. His Doctor, Thirteen the others called her, stood defiantly in the space where her chamber had once stood. She hadn't made any move to leave the small space. The Master, the one who seemed to be in charge and had a greying goatee, paced thoughtfully in front of them all. The other Master's kept a very watchful eye on all of the Doc, as it was obvious they knew what she was capable of and how good she was at escaping. The female version of the Master's (as it had been explained briefly by the Doc), who went by the name Missy, once again stood in front of them with her disintegrator aimed at their faces. The round-faced, more youthful, handsome version of the Master looked anxious. As if he couldn't contain his excitement at getting to finally kill the Doc, and wanted to do it now. It seemed he wasn't very patient. "When are we going to get on with it?" He finally snapped at his other selves. "The longer we wait, the more time she has to form some sort of ridiculous plan that will most likely work." "Patience," the Goatee Master ordered, but he still stepped up to the Doctor anyway. He looked between both her and Missy with a raised eyebrow. "Do all Time Lords regenerate into the opposite sex at some point?" He questioned almost disapprovingly. "We can only hope," the Doctor grinned, shoving her hands into her pockets. The Master stepped away from her and towards Missy who finally looked away from Graham, Ryan, and Yaz in favour of herself. "How did we regenerate into this? What happened?" He asked, curling a finger under her chin and lifting her face to get a better look."You know I can't tell you that. And even if I could, I don't really remember it. It's all a bit fuzzy," Missy admitted with an unsettling grin as though the fact she couldn't remember how she had died was the best thing in the world. "You mean, we turn into a woman and you don't even remember it?" The Master asked, removing his hand."Of course," Missy nodded as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Interesting," the Master hummed. "Enough of the chit chat," Round Face spoke up impatiently. "When are we going to kill her?!" "I cannot wait to be you," the Master drawled sarcastically. "As it is," he continued and returned to standing in front of the Doctor, "change of plans. I thought we could have a little fun first. A bit of old fashioned torture, you know? Rough her up a bit." "You can't do that!" Yaz protested with tears in her eyes. The Doctor subtly shook her head at her, but Yaz ignored her in favour of glaring at the Master. "And why not, insolent little human?" Round Face demanded, striding forward. "Because! She's the best person in the world and she doesn't deserve this! I may not have known her that long, but I can safely say you don't want to do this," Yaz said confidently. The Master's each looked amused, sharing silent looks, but most likely communicating in some language that comes with being in the same room as several different versions of yourself."And why not?" Round Face repeated threateningly and took a step closer so they were face to face. "Get away from her," The Doctor ordered seriously, her voice low and dangerous. Round Face held his hands up and stepped away, turning away to look at her and show he meant no harm. To Yaz, anyway. "You can hurt me, mock me, kill me, but don't you ever lay a hand on my friends. Do you understand?" "Of course, Doctor," Round Face nodded with a sick grin, lowering his hands. All the while, the Goatee Master had been examining the Doctor. Lifting up her blonde hair in his hands and watching it fall back down when he let it go, scrutinising her clothes, silently looking into her eyes."What are you doing?" Round Face asked with befuddlement. "I just can't believe the Doctor is a woman. All those years of having human females by his side, and now he is a female. And so are we..." the Master admitted. "Oh, get over it," Missy groaned with an eyeroll. "Yes, we are women now. Genders are such flexible things. That doesn't change the fact that we're here to kill the Doctor, so are we doing it or not?" She snapped, her Scottish accent coming in, in full force. "Our accent. It's sexy," Round Face muttered. Missy winked at him. "You're right, female version," the Goatee Master nodded. "So, let's get to it," he turned back to the Doctor who had her jaw set and was watching them intently, barely blinking in her anger at the situation.Slowly, almost patronisingly, the Master slipped off his black, leather gloves. He flexed his fingers and passed the gloves back to Missy who laid them carefully on one of the chairs. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of golden rings. He put them on his fingers and turned his hand a bit, watching as the light reflected off of them."What are you doing?" Graham asked with fear. The Master turned to him, seeming to have forgotten that anyone else was in the room with him."This," he said by way of explanation. He faced the Doctor again who looked as confused as Graham felt. Quickly, forcefully, the Master brought his hand up into a striking position. The Doctor flinched and looked away, expecting the Master to hit her. When the slap never came, she opened her eyes and looked at him.The Master's and Missy chuckled lowly at the Doctor's reaction. "She's afraid of us," the Master stated proudly."I would be, too," Missy said, "we're intimidating. It's a tiny bit sexy.""'Sexy'?" Round Face questioned."Yes." "Why is everything sexy to you?""Enough," the Master interrupted their banter. Without warning, he brought his hand back up and then forward, striking the Doctor with his ring hand. Ryan, Graham, and Yaz exclaimed in shock and worry for their friend. The Doctor grunted at the impact and stumbled to the floor with only her hands to brace her fall. When she'd caught herself, she sat up on her knees and brought a hand to her face where she tentatively touched a finger to her bleeding lip. She brought it away and looked at the red liquid on her finger."That's quite the stress reliever," the Master said thoughtfully, looking at his hand and checking his rings."Doc," Graham muttered tearfully. Sometimes it was hard to remember that the woman in front of him wasn't just a child running around the universe, eating custard creams. She had her own demons, as did many people, only hers were stood in front of her and contemplating how to kill her whilst hurting her. "That was very not nice," the Doctor huffed and got to her feet again, wiping the blood away with her sleeve only for it to trickle through again."It felt quite nice to me," the Master said truthfully. "And it was very sexy," Missy inputted."Seriously?" Round Face said with exasperation."If you two cannot be serious, you shall be forced to leave the room," the Master snapped at... himselves. It would have comedic had the situation been a bit different, Graham mused. The Master's future selves pouted, but shut up nonetheless. "Can't keep yourself under control?" The Doctor teased with a grin."I didn't ask for your input, Doctor," the Master retorted."People never do, but I tend to give it anyway," the Doctor shrugged casually. Unfortunately, this earned her another slap, sending her sprawling to the floor again. "It's worse the second time round," she hissed and got to her feet. "I like your determination, Doctor. I wonder how long it will take to break it," the Master mused. "Thought you were gonna kill me?" "Oh, I am. But I didn't say I was killing your past selves," the Master reminded her. "Ah, yeah. Almost forgot about them," the Doctor muttered. "Wonder what they're doing now. I can't remember anything.""Meeting yourself does tend to have that effect," the Master nodded, but a flash of worry passed his features. It was gone in an instant. "Now, let's get back to it."The Master slapped her again, but this time she kept her footing and only stumbled a bit. She clenched her jaw and glared at the floor. "This is getting a bit boring now, don't you think, Doctor? I was thinking we could try something different. Any requests? I'll be sure to deliver. We're quite the expert on torture, you know? We've been on the receiving end quite a bit, but more often than not we were the ones doing the torturing," the Master mused, gesturing to Round Face and Missy the put a hand to his chin in thought."Do you remember your father's estate, Master?" The Doctor suddenly asked which threw the Master's off guard. They frowned simultaneously at the question. "Of course I do. What's that got to do with anything?" Round Face demanded and stepped forward. "And you, Missy? You're the furthest along. Do you remember?" The Doctor asked."Always," Missy nodded. The next time the Doctor spoke, it was in a language that neither Graham, Ryan, or Yaz could understand. The Master's seemed to understand it perfectly, though, as they kept their gaze on the Doctor, latching on to her every word. The language was beautiful. Not like any of the rough languages on Earth. They'd never really heard an alien language, as the TARDIS translation circuit always made sure they could understand other species and that they could understand them. But the language the Doctor was speaking, the clearly alien language that seemed to come to her like second nature, it was beautiful. Music to their ears. Literally. It sounded like a thousand wind chimes blowing about in gusts soft winds. It made Graham wonder if she had ever spoken to them in that langauge before, but they hadn't known because the TARDIS had translated it for them. If she had, he'd be disappointed. It was such a soothing thing to listen to, even of the Doctor looked resigned whilst speaking it. When she finished talking, the Master's stood in place, not saying a word. Graham couldn't tell what they were thinking, their faces were perfect, neutral masks. Missy had lowered her weapon a while ago, giving the trio some time to gather their thoughts.The Goatee Master finally responded, speaking in the same language the Doctor had used, but unlike her, he looked angry. When he spat out some kind of musical word in his angry tone, both Missy and Round Face winced at whater harsh thing he'd said. He seemed furious, and deemed to show this to the Doctor by hitting her again. This time, when she went down she didn't bother getting up again. The Master continued his rant, towering above her. He stopped for a short second before speaking one long word that made the two Master's and the Doctor look at him in disbelief. The Doctor, seeming unready for what he had said, recovered quickly and came back with another word, much longer than Goatee's', that made the three Master's glare at her. There was silence after that, but the tension in the room was thick. The Doctor and the Master's glared at each other for a long time, that Graham thought they might be speaking telepathically. The Doc had mentioned she was telepathic at one point, but hadn't elaborated. Suddenly, the door to the room burst open and in rushed the other Master with a goatee. He quickly sensed the tension and eyed them all."What do you want?" Round Face demanded."The Doctor... he's escaped," the other Goatee Master told them."The Doctor? Which one?" Missy questioned worriedly. "The one with the big chin wearing tweed," goatee answered."He's incompetent," Missy sniffed, "we can contain him again. Do you know where he went?" "I think the control room," goatee said. "You moron! Why didn't you go after him or did you forget what's in there?!" Missy exclaimed and slapped him. Goatee held his cheek in shock having not expected her to slap him."Of course I know! But he seemed quite angry," goatee defended himself."Angry?" Round Face repeated, "angry?! Of course he's angry! We've taken him and his pets hostage, you idiot!" "He's got a point," the Doctor agreed casually, putting her hands back in her pockets and rocking on her heels."Right," Round Face sighed and put his fingers to the bridge of his nose, "Lady Version, bring the disintegrator and that girl there," he ordered, pointing at Yaz, "we're going to entrap the Oncoming Storm..."
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Missy muttered angrily to herself as she and her other self marched down the hallway towards the control room. Her previous regeneration wisely kept his mouth shut in the presence of his elder, even if she was a woman. He'd already received a slap, he didn't want to anger her further. Especially since she was holding a disintegrator. The Doctor's femal companion was by his side, still cuffed and trembling against his hold on her upper arm. She looked terrified, the knowledge of which was the only thing keeping the Master sane. At least he still had power of the insignificant human, he thought shooting a glare to the back of Missy's head."I'd pack that in, if I were you," Missy said to him, not even turning to look at him."Sorry," the Master immediately apologised. Sometimes he cursed his intelligence. They finally came upon the control room and Missy stopped in front of it. The Master, with Yasmin still in his grip, looked at her and gestured to the door."You said the Doctor was angry," she said, "you open the door." "You're the eldest. You do it," he deflected, "plus you've got a weapon and I have the human." With a final glare in his direction, Missy opened the door and stepped inside the room, the Master and Yasmin following behind her. The door slowly swung shut the second they entered and they al stopped in their tracks. In the centre of the room, a solemn look on his face, stood the Doctor. Not even the horrible outfit he was wearing could dim his terrible aura. He stood there, looking at the floor just in front of the five wheezing TARDISes.He finally looked up at them a second later, his floppy brown hair in his eyes. Unconsciously, the Master's grip tightened on Yasmin's arm, making her gasp."What have you done to my TARDIS?" The Doctor growled at Missy and the Master. "Paradox machine," Missy explained briefly. She didn't want to beat around the bush, not when the Doctor was looking at them like that. The Doctor wringed his hands, pacing back and forth in front of them."Let her go and give me the disintegrator," Eleven finally ordered as he came to a stop in front of one of the TARDISes. "I don't think you understand, Doctor," the Master scoffed, pulling Yasmin closer to him. "No," the Doctor growled and strode forward in anger, "I don't think you understand, Master. Let her go and give me the disintegrator." The Master clenched his jaw in anger, staring defiantly into the eyes of the Oncoming Storm. Missy glanced at him then at the Doctor. She handed the disintegrator to the Doctor without a word, earning a disapproving look from the Master. "Give he human female to him," she ordered the Master coldly. "What?" The Master snapped in shock. "I said give her to him," Missy repeated. Knowing he was outvoted, the Master reluctantly let go of Yasmin to which she rushed over to the Doctor and stood just behind him. With one final look to the Master's, the Doctor shuffled Yaz in front of him and led her to one of the TARDISes, letting her go in first.As the TARDIS slowly dematerialised, Missy allowed herself a tiny hopeful smile.The Master shoved the Doctor a bit as they made their way up the concrete stairs, the two human companions trailing dejectedly behind him. He'd allowed them to go behind as he knew as long as he had the Doctor, they wouldn't leave. As for the Doctor, she'd been cuffed like her previous selves and had a rag in her mouth to prevent her from talking. The Master swore if he had to listen to anymore of her stupid rambling, he'd be throwing himself off the rooftop.Finally, after several more stairs, the group came to the top of the building. The Master joined the Doctor on the top stop and pushed the metal door open with a creek. He allowed the Doctor and her human friends to step out onto the rooftop first before following and shutting the door behind him."Such a lovely view," the Master nodded and looked around at the vast expanse of nothing. They were stood on top of a tall, grey building in the middle of nowhere. It was just wastelands as far as they could see. "Of course, only the best for you, Doctor." The Doctor returned with a mocking smile as best as she could with the rag in her mouth.With his hands suddenly on her shoulders, the Master guided the Doctor to the edge of the rooftop, and tilted her head to look down at the ground below. Thin layers of white smoke glided above the dirty ground, occasionally being disturbed by gusts of wind that brough the smell of gasoline to their noses. "Take a good, long look at your grave, Doctor," the Master said and stepped away from her. "Maybe, if I'm feeling generous," he continued, "I'll bring your TARDIS down there when you're dead and buried. It seems only fitting that your TARDIs should be your tombstone." The Doctor shook her head with a glare in his direction, her disapproval clear and her eyes hard. The Master merely smirked at her. "Now, if you'll kindly take a step up onto the ledge. And you'll do well to cooperate, or your human friends die, too," he said when the Doctor seemed like she might refuse. With a sigh, the Doctor stepped up onto the ledge and looked down at the ground. "Have you ever fallen to your death, Doctor?" The Master casually asked. Something flashed in the Doctor's eyes that the Master couldn't quite place, and he found himself humming. "I suppose you have given that look," he continued, though he sounded less hostile.The Master took a step closer from the Doctor with a thoughtful look, "I was going to keep the handcuffs on you, but I know you won't try anything with your companions here," the Master finally said. He took a small remote out of his inner coat pocket and aimed it at the Doctor's handcuffs. With a quiet click, they came undone and clattered to the ground. "You may remove the rag," he said when the Doctor was rubbing her wrists. Thankfully, the Doctor reached up and took the rag out of her mouth, then passed it to the Master who put it on his pocket with a mildly disgusted look."Any final words?" The Master questioned casually.The Doctor looked back down at the ground below her. She was eerily silent for a few long seconds before a grin lit up her face and she turned back to the Master. "Geronimo," she said. Without warning, she turned around and allowed herself to fall backwards off the roof.
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"Doctor!" Ryan shouted in a panic and ran to the ledge the Doctor had just jumped off. Graham was by his side in seconds, his eyes as wide as saucers and his heart beating a mile a minute. They watched helplessly as the Doctor fell and fell and fell, until eventually a familiar warping sound travelled through the wind and reached their ears."Impossible," the Master hissed next to Graham, also watching the scene unfold.The Doctor was halfway to the ground beneath her when the TARDIS started to fade into view beneath her. When it was fully materialised, it was sideways. The doors threw open just in time for the Doctor to fall through them followed by a delayed splashing sound. Graham and Ryan whooped and cheered with relief as the TARDIS doors closed and dematerialised. The Master stood fuming beside them, his eyes still fixated on the spot the TARDIS had dematerialised from.He pushed away from the ledge to angrily pace back and forth across the rooftop, muttering obscenities as he went."Man, that was proper awesome," Ryan told Graham with a grin, having either forgotten about the Master or just not caring. "Dangerous though, what if the TARDIS hadn't shown up?" Graham said with concern, already kicking into 'Granddad Mode' as Ryan and the others called it."Oh, cheer up, gramps. It did, that's all that matters and now the Doctor is safe," Ryan reassured him. Graham nodded. "'Safe'?" The Master inputted, "you think she is safe?" "Well, yeah. 'Case you didn't notice, the TARDIS appeared around her and she's gone," Ryan pointed out. "Mate, you've lost. Just give up," he continued bravely, "now that you've lost her, you don't stand a chance." "I can see wht River likes jumping off buildings now," Thirteen grinned as she towel dried her hair on her way back from the swimming pool. "I hope we don't do a lot of that in the future," Eleven frowned worriedly, but kept his eyes on the console."Spoilers," Thirteen said with a cheeky grin. "Doctor, you're okay!" Yaz exclaimed, running out of one of the corridors."Yaz!" Thirteen yelled in response, accepting the hug she got from her friend. "I take it big chin here saved you," she said when Yaz had let go. "Yeah," Yaz agreed gratefully, giving Eleven a smile. He returned it briefly. "Your face looks kinda bad, no offense," Yaz continued, eyeing the side the Master had hit several times."I know," Thirteen nodded, "none taken. Don't worry. Wait!" She suddenly exclaimed, rushing over to Eleven who was piloting."What?" He squeaked, startled at the sudden noise."My friends. They're still on the rooftop with the Master. We need to go get them," she said, joining in on the piloting."But- oh, fine," Eleven huffed, his previous argument long forgotten. "It'll be hard as there's already four other TARDISes in the building, but we can do it. Eh, what do you reckon, Old Girl?"The TARDIS thrummed readily under his fingertips, and with a lever pull, she headed for the rooftop they'd come from."I am the Master and you will obey me," the Master said coldly, stepping forward a bit. Graham nodded mutely, gaining a confused look from Ryan in return. "Gramps?" He tried, nudging him with his elbow as his hands were still cuffed. Graham started blankly at the Master, his mouth hanging open a bit.A wheezing noise interrupted whatever nonsense the Master had started to say, and he and Ryan looked around, trying to find wherever the TARDIS was materialising this time. To the Master's fury, and Ryan's great relief, the TARDIS started to materialise around him and Graham, leaving the Master stood alone outside the blue box. His face fell into one of pure rage and he kicked the box."Doctor!" He roared, pounding in the door with his fist. "Step outside your TARDIS at once!" A high pitched sound responded to his orders then stopped."Doctor?" Thirteen's voice came from some unseen speaker on the TARDIS, sounding befuddled."Doctor Who?" A male voice took over, belonging to Eleven. Leaving the Master dumbfounded, the TARDIS dematerialised from the rooftoop wihout any further words exchanged between any of them. With his rage reaching its peak, the Master set his face into a cold expression and left the rooftop in search of his other selves.
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River crouched in front of the door of the room she and the others were locked in. She eyed the keyhole with concentration and inserted the straightened bobby pin. Jack was crouched beside her, watching with amusement and a tiny bit of lust. Maybe when they were all out of the stupid situation, she could find him wherever he got sent back to and they could have a drink, River mused. She blew a piece of blonde curly hair out of her face when it fell in front of her eye. "How long will this take?" Jack asked calmly. "Not too long. Should be out in a second," River said quietly with most of her attention on the door. "You'd think the Master would make a door that couldn't be picked by the enemy, but here we are," she then said with a smirk."They always did underestimate the Doc's companions," Jack chuckled. "Companions," River laughed, "oh, sweetie, I'm not their companion.""You're not?" Jack retorted with surprise. "So, who are you?" "I'm their wife," River grinned, looking away from the door for a second. "No way," Jack smiled, his shock evident on his face, "so he finally tied the knot, eh?""Yep. And see those two over there, Amy and Rory," River gestured at her parents who were leant against the wall watching them with amusemet, "they're his in-laws.""What? They're your parents? But they look like they're in their twenties," Jack frowned. "They are. Time travel," River explained briefly."Ah," Jack nodded understandingly. "So. The Doctor's wife, eh? How'd you do it?" River laughed warmly. It was a question she got a lot, and it disn't surprise her. Especially coming from Jack Harkness.The lock clicked loudly, the sound resonating throughout the room amongst the quiet chatter of the Doctor's companions. Jack cheered loudly next to her and gave her a congratulatory pat on the back. River breathed a breath of relief and took the bobby pin out of the lock, then stood up. The others joined her and Jack next to the door, impatiently waiting to get out of the plain room. River held a hand up for them to settle down then reached for the doorhandle, and pulled the door open slightly. She peered out into the hallway carefully and looked up and down for any sign of danger.It was a complicated mission trying to find the Doctor's and avoid the Master's. The latters had literally taken them all from a specific point in their timelines and deposited them in a building with the goal of killing the Doctor. If anything should go wrong, it could tear all of time and space itself apart. They had to be careful. "Okay, let's go," River ordered and led the way out of the room, the others following closely behind. "Did anyone see which way they took the Doctor's?" They were running. That much was obvious, but this time they weren't running from something. Nor were they running for themselves. This time, they were running for and to their companions. Their companions who logically shouldn't even be there. But then again, neither should they or the Master's/ Missy.Twelve glanced back at the other two that were with him and grimaced. What on Earth had possessed him to wear converse trainers and a brown trenchcoat with a suit. And that haircut. He quickly glanced away in order to avoid running into anything. He'd done that one too many times before. "Which way?" He yelled behind him and Ten and Nine. "I don't know. We're following you!" Nine replied. "I don't know where I'm going. This place is too big! And it all looks the same!" Twelve shouted in his Scottish accent. Finally, finally... he stopped. He wasn't sure how long they'd been running, but he leant over and put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. He was positive that they were far enough away from their now empty cells though, so that was a start. Ten leaned on the wall beside him with his hand, running a hand down his face."Was anyone even watching where we were going?" Twelve grumpily asked his past selves. "No. Like I said, we were following you," Nine snapped in return. Twelve raised an angry eyebrow challengingly. "I was paying attention!" Ten interrupted loudly before an argument could break out between them. "We should be close to where Thirteen and the Master's are now," Ten said, pointing down the corridor in the direction they'd been heading anyway. "Right then. Let's go," Twelve said determinedly and started off down the corridor with the other two readily following."Can you 'ear that?" Rose suddenly spoke, drawing the attention of the others. "Hear what?" Martha replied and stopped to listen. "Oh yeah. It's running," Amy said, looking around for the source of the sound. "It's coming from that way," Jack said and took off running down the corridor in the direction of the running. "Wait! It might be the Master!" Rory weakly shouted at him. Amy gave him a sympathetic look at dragged him after the others who seemed determined to run head first into danger. The group ran down the corridor, took a left, then changed direction when the running seemed to be getting further away. They followed the sound for about five minutes before they actually found anyone.Mickey had ran around the corner, somehow gaining the lead, when he crashed into someone and toppled them both to the floor. Both he and the other person yelled when they fell down and Mickey quickly backed away."Mickey!" The person he'd run into yelled, sounding pleased. "Oh, it's you," Mickey said."Don't sound too pleased, will you?" Ten grumbled and got back up with the help of Wilf."Where are the others? And the Master's?" Twelve suddenly demanded after pushing Clara away when she'd hugged him."We're not sure where the Master's are. And what others?" Jack answered. "You know," Twelve said and suddenly gestured towards his chin, "big chin." "Your Eleventh self?" River helpfully sighed. "Yes, him. We thought he was with you," Twelve said. "No. We're not sure where Eleven is, we can only assume he escaped.""Without us?" Amy suddenly piped up. "He wouldn't do that.""I didn't mean it like that," River reassured her, "I mean he probably escaped his own cell and has a plan or something." "We need one," Nine said, "a plan, I mean," he continued in response to the confused looks. "Well we need to find Eleven and Thirteen first. Last we saw, the Master was going to kill Thirteen, and her friends were there, too," River said. "Good idea, River," Twelve nodded, "come on then." With that, he started running off down the corridor in the general direction of where he thought Thirteen to be. "Do you have a plan for when we get there?" Bill shouted to his retreating form with concern."Not yet!" Twelve responded, not stopping.Some of the others sighed fondly whilst Bill and Nardole shared an exasperated look. "Come on," Nardole told her.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"We need to land!" Thirteen shouted at her younger self whilst trying to remember which controls did what. It had been a while since she was last in that console room so everything was a bit fuzzy. "I know! But there's already four other TARDISes inside, the Old Girl doesn't like it!" Eleven yelled back. He grabbed Yaz when she almost slipped. She thanked him with relief and got a better hold on the console. "Four other TARDISes?!" Thirteen parroted. "What, did they make a paradox machine using our TARDISes?!""Yes! How else do you think the paradox has upholded so far?!" "Doing it once was enough! We could probably forgive that! But twice?!" Thirteen shouted, angrily throwing a lever. "Calm down and help me land the Old Girl! We have to save the others!" "Okay, okay! Keep your knickers on!" She said. Eleven splutteted in annoyance, but didn't reply when he coudln't think up a comeback. Together, Eleven and Thirteen found a suitable place to land the TARDIS. They used the 'blue boringers' and took the brakes off so as to not alert the Master's that they'd come back. They would need to be careful about how they saved their friends. They knew what the Master was capable of, so with five of them in the building it would be extremely dangerous. Perhaps they could convince Missy, depending on whereabout in her timeline she was. She knew Nardole and Bill at least, so that was a good sign. Thirteen was the first to leave the TARDIS, checking the corridors for anyone. When she was positive there wss no one around, she let the other two know it was safe. At first she had been wary about letting Yaz with her due to the threat they were facing, but her friend had been determined to help her no matter what, so Thirteen gave in. Sticking a finger in his mouth then holding it up, Eleven shushed Thirteen and Yaz so he could concentrate. He stared determinedly around for a second then put his finger down."You were on the roof when I found you, yes?" Eleven asked Thirteen. "That's right," she nodded. "I believe we're near the exit to the roof. Do you remember the way back to where this all started?" "Do I remember..." she started, almost offended, "of course I do. Now, follow me and have a little faith in your future self," she scoffed. Eleven mockingly held up his hands and allowed Thirteen to lead the way. She started off down the corridor, taking turns here and there that confused even Eleven. Truth be told, he was sure she was just going in random directions and hoping they arrived at their destination. It's what he would have done, after all. As they walked, he found himself watching his future self rattling on about who-knows-what. There was a certain perkiness to her that outmatched even his own. She was lively and optimistic, he would give her that, but there was a certain... sadness and deep loss to her, hidden deep beneath the suface to anyone that might be looking for it. He wasn't just 'anyone', thiugh. He saw it plain as day. It was reflected in his own eyes, after all.He looked away from his future self and to her companion- Yaz. She reminded him a bit of Rose. Hopeful, kind, but stern if need be. He frowned a bit and looked away. He knew he would regenerate at some point, he always did, but facing the stone cold truth was harder than he thought. He'd been travelling with the Pond's for a long time now, he didn't want to leave them. His future did look promising, all those new faces he would get to meet and befriend soon, but after travelling with Amy and Rory for so long (and occasionally River), it was hard to see a future without them."Stop that," Thirteen's voice cut into his thoughts. He blinked and looked at her- her knowing gaze focused on him."Stop what?" He asked. "Thinking so loud," she said. "I know what you're thinking, and it's frankly quite distracting," her eyes looked sad now, less bright than a moment ago when she'd been rambling on about Zygons."I don't know what you're talking about," he denied, straightening his bow-tie out of habit like he usually did when he got caught doing something. "You can't lie to me. I've been you. I am you. Now, what's wrong?" Thirteen asked, lowering her voice so Yaz wouldn't hear. The latter seemed to noticed and focused on the area around them. "It's just," Eleven started, "the Ponds. My Ponds. They're not in our future. What happened to them?" "You know I can't tell you that," Thirteen told him sternly, but he could hear the emotion and pain in her voice as clear as day. She was shutting him out, keeping her feelings close to her. "I won't remember any of this. Neither will you. Might as well tell me, I've already pieced some of it together. The way you and Eyebrows look at them. Like they're the most wonderful thing in the universe-""I look at all of our companions like they're the most wonderful thing in the universe.""But with them it's different!" Eleven desperately hissed. Thirteen determinedly closed her mouth so as to not answer back. "It's always different with the Ponds. Tell me. I need to know. I won't remember.""You won't remember, but you know as well as I do that some feelings linger. You might try and avoid it. You can't.""How long, huh?" Eleven demanded, "how long until you get over them? How long 'til you replace them?""I can never replace the Ponds. Only move on. There's an entire universe out there that needs us. I can't sit around moping over them forever." "Don't you dare," Eleven warned. "They will always have a special place in our hearts. We will always be Amelia's Raggedy Man. Her imaginary friend. Rory will always be Rory the Roman, to us. None of that will change," Thirteen ranted, "but their story will come to an end in time and it will hurt. God it will hurt. But we will accept the pain and make it a part of us. Allow it to change us, make us a better person just as they did. And we will move on. For them. For little Amelia Pond and her Roman."Eleven stared at her, tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat. His hands uselessly fumbled with us suspenders then his bow tie. Slowly, he nodded his head and coughed away the lump in his throat. He wiped away the tears then put a smile on his face and pushed his floppy hair back. "Right. Okay then. Let's get a move on," he said. He put his arm out in a gesture that meant 'lead the way'. Thirteen gave one last look at Eleven and nodded her own head, and continued leading the way."Do you have your sonic screwdriver?" Thirteen asked Eleven in an effort to change the subject. He patted his pockets with a frown, "no. What about you?" "No. Checked when we arrived. I'm not sure where it is. I was sure I had it before we were all teleported here." "You did. You were scanning that weird mushroom thing," Yaz inputted from behind them. Eleven startled a bit, having almost forgot she was there."Mushroom thing?" Eleven asked. "Ah... yeah," Thirteen awkwardly said. "Best not ask about that.""Lookin' forward to it," Eleven muttered. "So, have we got a plan for when we find the others? And the Master's?" Thirteen prompted hopefully."No. But we usually just go with the flow, don't we? Worked out well so far.""Usually I wouldn't mind, but we're facing the Master. Several of them. I was thinking perhaps we could convince Missy," Thirteen said hopefully. "You do realise she's just a female regeneration of the Master? It doesn't make her any less evil." "I know, but- well, it's complicated. Just trust me on this." "Well, if you say so. What do we do about the Master's?""Well, the main objective is getting them to their own timelines, of course. I doubt they'll want to go of their own accord so we'll need to find a way to get them back before they can cause anymore trouble.""Can we take them in our TARDISes?" Eleven suggested. "I guess so, but it's the matter of getting them to go with us," Thirteen huffed. "It'll be tricky, but we've been in worse situations," Eleven reminded her."You're right. So, we've got a half plan, no sonics, and we're up against the Master. Like you said, not the worst situation. Let's get a shift on," Thirteen said optimistically. Yaz looked a bit panicked, but steeled her nerves whilst Eleven looked about as hopeful and brave as the other Doctor.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Twelve paced restlessly in the room they'd all originally been teleported inside. His mind was a wirring mess of plans and worries. His companions- old and new- watched him with anticipation and a bit of restlessness, but he couldn't be bothered with answering any questions. They'd all been together for too long. Whatever the Master's had done to uphold the paradox so far wouldn't be enough. They needed to get back to their own timelines and soon, or the universe would collapse. His other selves were also deep in thought, but they weren't pacing like he was. Just sat silently by themselves with their 'thinking' faces on- their eyebrows furrowed deeply and a concentrated frown on their faces. Possibly one of the only things that had been passed on down their many regenerations. He briefly wondered if his future self also had that perk, but then chastised himself for getting distracted.He ran a had roughly through his curly wisps of grey hair in frustration. Neither of them had any idea where the Master's and Missy were, nor Eleven, Thirteen, and the girl Yaz. It wasn't like the Master's to keep to themselves for so long when they had the Doctor right in their hands. The thought that they were keeping to themselves, though, made the Doctor anxious. A feeling of nausea building up in his stomach. If Eleven and Thirteen didn't find their way to him and the others soon, he would go and look for them. He felt useless just pacing back and forth doing nothing, but planning. "Sweetie," River spoke up, "do stop pacing. You're giving me a headache.""Sorry," Twelve immediately apologised and stopped his repetetive pacing. No longer able to pace, he restlessly fiddled with his hands, wringing them over and over."I don't like this," Nardole muttered from the corner. Twelve looked over at him. With the way he was sat and his pale, bald head, the Doctor could see what Missy meant when she called him 'egg'. "Don't like what?" Twelve demanded."This," Nardole replied, gesturing around. "We're all just sitting here, and who knows what the Master's are planning right now. We're basically just sitting ducks." "We're not just sitting here," Twelve said defensively. He hadn't when people just assumed he was doing nothing but standing around. "I'm planning," he continued with a mischieveous grin. "Oh, I don't like that face," Nardole said slowly, Bill nodding in agreement beside him. "What're you planning?" She asked with a confused smile. "It's a work in progress. As long as you all truat me, we'll be fine." There was several ready nods from his companions, their way of each saying they all trusted him to get them out of it.The entire room jumped out of their skin when the door suddenly slammed open with a resounding bang, and in stumbled five people. Twelve and his past regenerations each took up their own fighting stances, though it would do little to no good as they weren't really violent people."It's just us!" One of the people shouted as he turned around from shutting the door and spotted everyone's panicked faces. "Why did you have to go and barge through the door like that?!" Clara demanded with an annoyed glare. Eleven shrugged meekly and gave an apologetic grin."Well, I'm glad you're all in here," Thirteen said thankfully, "we weren't sure where you'd be." "What on Earth happened to your face?" River demanded with wide eyes. "Oh, it's nothing," Thirteen brushed off casually, "just the Master.""Sweetie, you look like you've been through the wringer." "Honestly, it's fine. I'm fine," Thirteen reassured. "Anyway! Let's get to it. Where are the Master's and Missy?""Not sure. Last we knew, the Master's and Missy were with you. The other two were keeping guard. Badly," Ten said. He shared a proud grin with Nine. "Okay. Great. So we've got five dangerous psychopaths wandering the building, presumably looking for us. Or not. Who knows," Thirteen said nervously, "been in worse situations, it's fine.""What do we do then?" Martha asked. "I've met the Master once before- one was enough, but five?" "The last time you saw the Master, he was unhinged and desperate. Spurred on by a noise in his head, but now without the noise? He's doing all of this just because he can. Because he thinks it's fun," Twelve said. "That's really not helping, Doctor," Martha replied."Sorry," Twelve immediately apologised, but he didn't look the least apologetic. "Okay," Ten interrupted, giving a passing glare at Twelve, "we need to subdue the Master's and get them back to their own timelines, then us. They're our main priority. They're dangerous." "Subdue?" Nine repeated. "What? You think they're going to go willingly?" Twelve asked. "Well, no. But how do you propose we 'subdue' them?" There was silence as each of the Doctor's looked at each other, hoping the other might think of something. None of them had anything. Eleven and Thirteen shrugged helplessly, and Ten shook his head. Twelve finally sighed and massaged his forehead with his forefinger and thumb. River wasn't the only one getting a headache. At that point, thiugh, he wasn't sure whether it was from the paradox or the entire situation itself. "I take it neither of us have our sonic screwdrivers?""Nope," Thirteen and Ten said at the same time, popping the 'p'. Nine and Eleven shook their heads."Right. Any idea where they might be?""Could be in the control room," Thirteen said. "With the TARDISes." "The TARDISes?" Nine asked. "Oh yeah, all of your TARDISes are in the control room. Eleven said the Master's made them into paradox machines?" Yaz told them."Why didn't you say something sooner?!" Twelve demanded, almost disappointed in her. Yaz shrugged awkwardly. Twelve rushed forward, squeezing passed Thirteen and Graham, and to the door. "Well come on then, you lot," he said to the others. "Where are we going?" Amy piped up, following him. "To the control room," Twelve said as if it were obvious. He threw open the door and left the room with a cautious glance into the corridor first. He then proceeded to move down the corridor in what looked like an attempt to tiptoe and run at the same time, his arms spread out beside him. "What about the Master's and Missy?" Donna hissed at him worriedly, walking alongside Ten and behind Twelve."I guess we'll just keep an eye out for them," Twelve said, going through the second door that led to the corridor with the control room. "Is that it?" Donna demanded skeptically."Pretty much."When he was sure he couldn't hear the approaching footsteps or voices of any of the Master's, he made his way down the corridor and straight to the control room. He pushed the handle down and walked straight inside, his companions and other selves following behind. The second he stepped inside, he quickly held his arms out to stop the others coming inside any further. He glared at the sight before him, his anger boiling. "Missy," he said levelly, his gaze glued to the woman before him. She was leaning casually on her umbrella, only a table seperating her from him and the others. It was what was on the table the stopped him from verbally attacking her anymore. In a neat, perfect line on the table rested five different sonic screwdrivers. His was there, along with his past selves', and what he presumed must be Thirteen's. He couldn't say he liked the design, but he guessed he must be going through a phase."What's this?" He demanded of Missy. "Some sort of trick?""Not a trick, no," she said quietly, keeping her gaze on him rather than the other people in the room. "I'n giving you your sonic screwdrivers. There's no catch.""Why?" He asked, still unable to take her word for it. Missy kept her mouth closed, but didn't take her eyes off him. Without looking away, she picked up his screwdriver and held it out for him to take. He crept forward slowly and tentatively took it from her. "Sir," Nardole warned from behind him. "Shush," Twelve hissed at him, but didn't look away. "Missy. Why? I need to know," he said, addressing Missy now. "Maybe I've had a change of hearts," she said genuinely. "Why? A couple of hours ago, you were ready to put a bullet in my skull," Twelve said, and moved his gaze to look at Thirteen who was watching solemnly. "Look what you did to her," he motioned at Thirteen's face, "why should I believe you now?""That wasn't me," Missy hissed before she could stop herself."Yes. It was," Twleve hissed back. "Why should I believe you want to help now?" "I hate myself," Missy admitted slowly, "I can't stand them. I'm trying to get better, you know that.""... I do. I do know that," Twelve said, "sorry, I'm just finding it a little hard to trust you right now.""It's okay, I understand," Missy nodded then motioned to the remaining sonic screwdrivers. Twelve picked them up and handed them out to his other selves. "Sir, you're seriously not considering trusting her, are you?" Nardole demanded skeptically. "Why shouldn't I?" Twelve responded with raised eyebrows."She's Missy!" Nardole said as if that would explain everything. "She's evil!" He continued at Twelve's blank look."Yes, she's just what we need to get the Master's back to their own timelines," Twelve said. "But-""No 'buts' Nardole. She's helping us."Nardole wisely closed his mouth, but made it obvious of his distrust by glaring in response to Missy's smug grin."So, where are they?" Thirteen intervened, bouncing on the balls of her feet now that, that had been taken care of. "The rooftop, the last I saw of them," Missy said."What are they doing up there?" Jack piped up. "Planning how to kill the Doctor," Missy said obviously, "and what to do with you lot." "Right. That's something, I guess," Eleven muttered to himself. Once again, Twelve started pacing determinedly. His eyebrows were furrowed, making him look stern and closed off. He occasionally tapped his sonic screwdriver into the palm of his hands, just for something to do as he thought. "He's got his thinking face on," Nardole whispered to Bill, making her grin. Finally, the Doctor stopped his pacing. A grim expression donned his face as he started at his friends and other selves. "We're just going to have to confront them and hope they go willingly. If not," he turned to Missy, "is there anything you can do?" Missy smiled as if she had been waiting for him to ask for her input, "but of course!" She said happily then held up her umbrella, "oh, I am going to enjoy this," she said quietly, twirling the umbrella. "The déja vu's back," Thirteen said. "Okay. Let's go then," Eleven said, taking charge. "Everyone in their respective TARDISes," he ordered and rushed over to his own. He opened the door and gestured for his current companions and River to get inside.Amy, Rory, and River all piled into Eleven's TARDIS, the latter coming onboard last when he was sure all of his companions were there and safe. Being around five versions of the Master was making him paranoid. He was expecting any of his friends to go wander off at some point and get into trouble, so he tried to keep a good eye on them."Hold onto something! This is going to be bumpier than usual!" He ran up to the controls and immediately started piloting them to their desired location."Not if you take the brakes off!" River protested, but didn't move the let go of her leverage- the only thing keeping her upright."Don't tell me how to pilot my own ship!" Eleven yelled tempermentally."I wouldn't need to if you could fly her!""I can fly her!" The Doctor retorted just as the TARDIS came to a bumpy halt. Amy, Rory, and River let go of the railings they'd been clinging to and took a moment to make sure they weren't going to topple over any second. "Right, come along, you lot," Eleven said as he scooted passed them and to the door. River rolled her eyes and gestured for her parents to follow her out, going at a much more cautious pace. After all, who knows what could be outside those doors.As they all got outside, they noticed the rooftop Missy had mentioned the Master's were on. And true to her word, they were greeted with the sight of the four remaining Master's. Spread out on the rooftop, they also noticed the other TARDISes on the rooftop, their occupants stepping outside to join them on the rooftop. As expected, the Doctor's stepped forward and made sure to keep their friends behind them just in case.Despite the glaring madness and anger present in the Master's' eyes, they still managed to look cornered as their eyes roved over everyone else. In an effort to mask their slowly building tinge of fear, they plastered on almost identical smirks."Oh, don't give us those looks," the round-faced Master said chastisingly, focusing on the Doctor's only, as if the others weren't even there. "You keep foiling our plans, did you expect we wouldn't try to kill you?" He continued when neither of the Doctor's said anything. Ten took a deep breath in through his nose, "Master's. You have a choice now," he said."Oh, here we go," round-face Master sighed. "You can either come with us in our TARDISes back to your own timelines the easy way," Ten continued, ignoring him, "or we can do it the hard way." "The hard way?" The first Goatee Master asked incredulously with the hint if a grin. "Care to elaborate?""I'd rather not," Ten said, "I'm giving you a choice."The goatee Master clenched his jaw, fixing his jaw as he stared at Ten. There was a tense silence on the rooftop, wind occasionally blowing through their hair and clothes and bringing the smell of pollution with it. "That won't work on me," Ten finally said after a moment, "you know that.""Yes, I suppose I do, Doctor," goatee Master grimaced. "So. Are we going to do this? Are you going to go willigly?" Ten repeated. Just then, the Master laughed mockingly, "oh, dear, Doctor. Clearly you don't know me that well," he said. Then, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, the Master had some sort of futuristic looking gun aimed at Nine's face. "If I shoot him now, you all die. And who knows what'll happen to your human companions." "You don't want to do that," Nine said slowly, his hands held out in what looked like a placating gesture. "Don't I?" Round faced Master asked, stepping up beside his past self. "I think I do," he said then turned his head to his past regeneration, "do it," he hissed, "pull the trigger."
Whack!
There was silence on the rooftop as everyone looked at the crumpled form of Goatee Master, the gun now by the ledge of the rooftop where it had clattered."What?" Missy asked, looming above the Master with her umbrella in her hands. "I was getting bored!" She said defensively. "I could've talked him out of it," Ten retorted. "Could you?" Twelve interrupted, "looked a lot like he was going to kill us all." "Missy!" Round face yelled, finally getting over his shock. "What the hell is wrong with you? What? Are you siding with the Doctor now?! Over yourself?!""That is correct, dear," Missy said, not phased in the least. "Now. Are you going to come with us willingly, or do I need to subdue you like him?" She asked, pointing the end of her umbrella at the unconscious Master.Round face looked like he might protest, but his self preservation skills got the better of him and he berudgingly agreed to go with them, but made it clear he was angry. Then Missy turned to her other selves- the burned one and the other one with a goatee. "And you?" She questioned them sternly, with a raised eyebrow. "I suppose... we've all been here long enough already. Any longer and there could be serious consequences," the other goatee Master said. Round face shook his head in annoyance.Missy turned to her burned self. He nodded his head in a way that meant he would come willingly. There wasn't much he could do anyway- not in his condition."Good, that's sorted then," Missy said chipperly, lowering her umbrella just a smidge. "So, who's going with who?" She asked the Doctor's. Getting over his admiration of Missy subduing the Master's with little effort, Eleven came back to himself and wringed his hands, "I suppose I can take him," he said, pointing at the burnt Master. It would be much safer as he posed the least threat, and he needed to keep Amy and Rory safe."Missy will come with me, of course," Twelve said gruffly. "I'll take you," Ten said coldly, pointing at round face. The latter made a disgusted expression then made a point of ignoring whatever went on from there. "I'll have him," Nine sighed, gesturing to the conscious goatee Master. The Master sneered at him, already taking a dislike the this particular Doctor."I guess I'm stuck with him, then?" Thirteen said, looking at the unconscious Master with a tilt of her head. "Seems like it, sorry," Ten said apologetically. "What if he wakes up?" Ryan asked worriedly. "He won't," Missy said with a grin, "should he out for a good few hours. That's enough time to get him back to his own timeline." Ryan nodded thankfully in relief, his fears dampened for the moment. Suddenly, Eleven clapped his hands, making the majority of those on the rooftop jump. He flashed an apologetic smile. "So, it's been nice," he said awkwardly, "always love meeting myself. Really. But, I think it's time to go. Like the Master said- paradox." "You're right," Thirteen agreed, "come on then, you lot, back in the box," she said to her friends. Suddenly, as she was heading for the Master with Graham and the others were getting in their own TARDISes, her upperarm was grabbed by someone and she turned around to come face to face with River. "Hello, sweetie," River said softly. "River," Thirteen said, her hears aching just by speaking her name aloud. "You don't seem happy to see me, my love," River noted sadly. "I am!" Thirteen defended quickly, "just anxious to get the Master's back to their timelines.""Of course," River nodded with a relieved smile, "I just wanted to say goodbye, my love."Thirteen nodded, briefly noting Twelve coming up to them. She'd said goodbye to River one too many times already, she wasn't sure she could return the sentiment even if she wouldn't remember anything when she left. She was saved from having to say goodbye to her wife once again, when said wife stepped forward and pressed their lips together. It took her a moment to gather her wits, but when she did, she eagerly returned the kiss, one of her hands flying up and tangling itself in River's curly hair, the other resting on her hip.A short, awkward cough drew their attention and they reluctantly pulled apart with matching grins on their faces. Thirteen looked in the direction the cough had come from and saw her self- well, her last regeneration. He looked mildly jealous and a bit cross. "Sorry," Thirteen said, not feeling the least bit sorry. Twelve nodded silently, then looked at the crumpled form of the Master. "Right, got a bit distracted," she chuckled and gestured to Graham to help her. Her friend looked a bit befuddled, but he complied nonetheless and helped her hoist the Master's unconscious boy up. He put one arm over his shoulder, as did the Doctor. "Right. It's been nice seeing ya," Thirteen said awkwardky, "shame I won't remember this," she continued, a bit of a blush seeping across her cheeks as she remembered the passionate kiss a moment ago. "Sweetie," River mock-gasped, somehow knowing exactly what she was thinking. "Right, okay, enough of this," Twelve interrupted grumpily. By now, they were the last on the rooftop. Some of the Doctor's had already left, ansty to get it all over with, but Eleven had stayed, waiting for River. "Someone's jealous," River said, trailing an arm up Twelve's arm. He frowned and scoffed."Shouldn't you be going?" Twelve said to Thirteen. "Oh, yeah!" Thirteen agreed, already starting to drag the Master away with Graham. "Like I said, it's been nice! And no, I don't mean it like that," she said without turning around to see River's smug face. "River! Stop flirting with me and come on!" Eleven's voice rang out of his TARDIS, his head peeping out at the same time. "Coming, sweetie!" River called back. As Thirteen and Graham entered their own TARDIS, River turned to Twelve and pressed her lips to his. She pulled away and rested a hand on his chest, taking in his smile. "Goodbye, sweetie." With one final lingering look, River walked away and got inside Eleven's TARDIS.